Want to finally transform that backyard space into a breathtaking haven? Perhaps it’s time that you go through some landscaping ideas that you can do all by yourself! The best matched landscape can do wonders in transforming that specific space into one place you’ll always want to hang out in!

While there is a wide range of DIY projects that can be undertaken to improve your home’s exterior, such as painting and lighting, the garden area is certainly one of the top places to help enhance the entire feel and appearance of your property. There are many creative & cost-effective methods by which residential home owners can effectively landscape their gardens and boost the home’s value and look. Let’s take a look at a few of them! for further details, click on : http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520249561

1. Placing a beautiful fountain: If you possess a clear space in your lawn, then you can fill that space up with a small water fountain that would add a nice soothing feel to your property.

2. Creating gravel paths: By creating such gravel pathways in the garden area, you’ll be creating a beautiful method of access to all of your garden’s sections.

3. Lighting specific areas: Another wonderful DIY option for landscaping ideas is to light up certain areas in your garden, which would produce a very stylish and pleasing look after the sun sets. This is a cost-effective method of improving your garden’s appearance. There are many different styles of solar lamps that are available for property gardens, which may be used to produce a great affect.

4. Adding some sprinklers: One of the top methods of keeping your garden fresh and green is adding some sprinklers in particular areas. There are many different cost-effective sprinklers on the market that will reduce your water expenditure and create a pleasing and aesthetic look in the garden area.

5. Making seating arrangements: By going for furniture that is durable and weather-resistant, you’ll be able to design a seating area in the lawn, which may serve as a wonderful picnic spot, as well as a dining area for friends and family.

6. Plants: Plants certainly play an essential role in setting the place’s ambiance. This is particularly true when it comes to backyard landscaping ideas. This is why you should go over the task of choosing the best suited plants for your space in a thoughtful manner. Depending on the space, you may want to consider different kinds of plants, such as shrubs, climbers, flowering plants and even trees if the space allows it.

7. Accessories: Depending on your overall budget, another smart consideration would be to put some forms of art in the backwyard, such as carvings. If you’re contemplating on setting a relaxing ambiance for the space, then you may want to consider fish ponds, swings and other water features that would set a relaxation tone.

At the end of the day, regardless of what you choose to implement in your landscaping ideas, it is important that you truly love the backyard you have designed. After all, it is you who is going to spend the most amount of time in it!

Custom window curtains and blindsdramatically change the look of any room. It’s very expensive to hire someone to make custom drapes and blinds for your home. Fortunately, you can do it yourself and it’s a lot easier than you might think. We’ve come up with seven easy DIY window treatment projects that will change the look of your room. Some of these projects will freshen up your interior while others will overhaul the look. Whatever your goal, there is a DIY project that’s right for you.

Custom Drapery Hooks

Most people use basic metal hooks to hold back their drapes. Metal hooks are functional but lack pizazz. Consider repurposing another type of object to serve as your hooks, like a cool set of doorknobs. Use vintage doorknobs to achieve a vintage look, modern doorknobs to achieve a modern look, etc. Look for fun animal shapes for a child’s room.

Painted Window Curtains

This is so easy and so fun! Take a set of premade, solid-colored linen curtains and customize them with fabric paint. If you’re artistic, you can paint freehandedly, otherwise, you can use stencils or large stamps.

Unusual Drapery Tiebacks

Traditional drapery tiebacks are made from ordinary fabric that matches or coordinates with the window curtains. Consider using an alternative material that contrasts with your drapes, or use something different than fabric altogether, like a leather belt or a large necklace. for more related info, click on : http://energy.gov/energysaver/energy-efficient-window-treatments

Customize Your Valance

This will make a bold statement in any room. You can use your current valance or buy a new one. Take fabric paint and stencil on a bold design, such as your family’s monogram. You can also use your valance to express your family’s interests. For interest, if your family is into sailing, you can stencil a sailboat right onto the fabric.

Painted Window Blinds

This is a cool thing to do in a not-so-serious room, like a child’s room or a breakfast nook. Close your existing blinds and remove them from the window. Place them on the floor and paint them with a fun design. Be sure to use the appropriate paint for the material of your blinds. If your blinds are made from fabric, use a fabric paint. Allow the paint to thoroughly dry before rehanging the blinds. This is a cool project because, when the blinds are open, you don’t know that they’re painted. Each time you close the blinds, you’re greeted with an unexpected design.

Alternative Drapery Materials

Give any room an unexpected twist by using something other than traditional fabric for your curtain material. Burlap coffee bags lend a masculine feel to any room. Drop cloths can also work well and can be easily customized using fabric paint.

Embellish Blinds Pulls

Don’t settle for the boring pulls that came with your window blinds. Customize the look of your room by embellishing blinds pulls. You can let your imagination run wild because just about any sturdy object can be glued onto the pulls. Seashells, silk flowers, and artificial crystals are a few fun choices.
We hope you’re inspired to change the look of your room by trying one or more of these easy projects. They’ll change the look of your drapes and blinds with very little money and time.

Home Improvements are notorious for being expensive. However, not all of them require shelling out a lot of cash. You can easily follow these Ideas & Tips on DIY Home Improvements which are completely affordable and efficient.

1. Freshen Up Your Room with Paint

Did you know that you can get really creative with the use of paint? If you want to improve the look of a room or simply add some drama, paint will be your best option. You can choose different varieties ranging from matte, glossy to super glossy finishes. You can also mix and match different colors to create your perfect design. Painting your own walls lets you be in control of how the finished results. Make sure to use a primer before coating the walls. After you’ve painted them perfectly, remember to use a sealant. This will ensure that your paint job will last longer. Interior painting will make your home look more pleasant and appealing. read more about home improvement on : http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/home_improvements

2. Switching Out Your Faucet

Instead of hiring a handyman to fix your faucet, it’s easier and more affordable to it yourself. As long as you can wield a wrench, you can surely install your own faucet. Leaky faucets are extremely annoying. It increases your water bill while also causing chaos in the kitchen and bathrooms. You definitely want to avoid any accidents by making sure that your faucets are working properly. Before you begin, make sure to switch off the water supply. All you have to do next is unscrew the connections from all your faucet. Finally, you can screw your new faucet just the way the original one was installed.

3. Cleaning Your Dryer Ducts

When you start to notice that your dryer ducts isn’t working as well as it used to, it’s time to clean them. Lint buildup is the most common problem which affects the efficiency of dryer ducts. It doesn’t only cause inconvenience. Rather, it can also be the factor which perpetrates fire. It’s very and straightforward to clean yet it will a make a huge difference in your home. After you’ve moved the dryer away from the wall, you can proceed with vacuuming. Make sure the dryer is unplugged. Then, disconnect the ductwork. Vacuum everything thoroughly to ensure that your dryer will be free from lint and other bacteria.

4. Updating Your Hardware

People often overlook the importance of having good hardware. When you notice that a doorknob or cabinet pull isn’t working properly, it’s best to replace it. Usually, this installation only requires a screwdriver. To be able to mount a cabinet pull in an area which didn’t have it before, create a template just to be sure that you won’t miss the right spot. Once you’re confident that it’s evenly placed and the measurements are accurate, you can begin drilling. It’s extremely easy to do and you’ll be very pleased with the results.

A good paint can add a value of thousands of dollars to a home, but at the same time, the cost involved in undertaking this exterior painting can also be pretty high. Therefore, many people opt for doing this exterior painting themselves and thus saving on a major exterior painting cost in the form of labor. However, before one starts the actual painting process, there are certain preparatory activities which he or she needs to undertake first.

If these preparatory activities are not done properly, then the overall decorating cost of your exterior walls can increase drastically. Thus, before you decide to paint the exterior of your house, make sure that you are well aware of these preparatory activities and do them properly.

Remove Obstacles

It is very important for a good painting job that you are able to reach the wall comfortably and have full uninterrupted access to it. In order to ensure this, the first preparatory activity which one needs to undertake is to remove all the obstacles, such as window boxes, shutters, house number and name plates, etc. from the wall. Once all these items have been removed from the wall, the painter will have a smooth wall on which he can make long and straight strokes without any disruptions. for more details visit : https://bloomington.in.gov/documents/viewDocument.php?document_id=5852

Protective Drops

Once the above step has been completed, the next step is to place a protective drop cloth on the areas where the current paint and stains on the wall are going to be removed and scrapped.

Surface Preparation

The next and a very crucial step in the painting preparatory process is making the surface of the wall, which is to be painted, smooth, dull and dry. For this, all the dirt and foreign matter settled on the wall is removed and if there are any cracks or holes in the wall, the same are taken care of. There are many techniques which can be used for the removal of the old paint and smoothening of the wall surface. The choice of the method will depend on the size of the all, the damage that is present on the wall and also on the type of damage to which the wall has been subjected to. Some of the common methods which are used for this purpose are: click here to find more about home painting.

Pressure washers are used for the removal of dust and foreign matter from the wall.

Scraping can be done using a wire brush or a wide blade, but this is effective only when small areas of paint have to be removed.

Sandpapers are used for the smoothening of the surface. This is generally done after all the scraping work has been completed.

For exterior stains, on which scraping, paint removers, etc. do not work, bleach can be used for lightening of the stain and it will also not cause any damage to the wood.Thus, it is obvious that the preparatory cost involved in the total exterior painting cost is pretty high, but this is something which cannot be missed or not done, of you are going to paint the exteriors of your house, you will first have to undertake all of the above preparatory activities first.

Water can cause wood rot if it gets into cracks and under painted surfaces. And once wood rot takes hold, the only option that you have is expensive repairs or the replacement of the bad parts. Therefore, the best thing you should do as a homeowner is to mount some preventive measures, so the problem of wood rot doesn’t occur in the first place.

First off, you need to be on the lookout for trouble spots. At least once every year inspect your house to ascertain there are no cracks and holes in the caulking surrounding the doors, windows, dryer vents, etc. In case there are any cracks or holes, re-caulk the openings using high-quality acrylic latex caulk.

Check around fireplaces, under the eaves, and on interior ceilings to find out if there any stains. If indeed there are any stains, then know you are likely contending with a leaking roof. Inspect for the damage and appropriately patch the leak.

Downspouts, sagging and leaking gutters are a recipe for trouble. If you see your gutters sagging or leaking, repair them Godspeed.

If there is any shrubbery or tree branch closer than 2 feet from the roof or siding, it should be trimmed and kept at 3 feet from the siding and roofing.

If there is any dirt, twigs or leaves caught between decking boards, use an awl or screwdriver to pry out any gunk that could trap moisture and lead to rot.

As you inspect the house, look out for wood rot actively. If you suspect wood rot, use your fingers to press the area of wooden surface where the rot might be, if it crumbles easily, that is a positive sign that there is rot.

If there is wood rot, don’t worry. Fortunately, you can restore the integrity of your wood so that it is firm, strong and beautiful as it was before rot encroached on it. Repairing damaged areas with epoxy is a do-it-yourself hack to restore the integrity of wood.

The first thing you will need to do is to prepare the area that needs to be restored by removing the rotten wood. You can use a chisel or a screwdriver to gouge out the rotten wood. Then drill several ¼” holes about the area that needs to be repaired. It is necessary to drill the holes so as to allow moisture to escape as well as create a reservoir for the epoxy consolidant which is to be applied later. Drill without going through the wood. Squeeze the consolidant into each hole and onto the surface of wood. Use a small brush to work the consolidant into the wood, and continue until the wood is wholly saturated. When done, cover the area with loose-fitting plastic tent so as to shield it from outside elements. for related information, click on : http://www.guttersupply.com/p-downspouts.gstml

Wait for the epoxy consolidant to dry before you apply and shape epoxy to the area. After applying and shaping epoxy to the area, smooth the area that was repaired and add a finishing touch.